Of Eggnog and Stalking Mistletoe
by S.M.Hoffman
Summary: It's season 5 and it's Christmas. The Scoobies can see Buffy and Giles are meant to be together, why can't they? There's a party, there's nog  lots of it , there's mistletoe, and there's magic. Can the Scoobies get them to drop their inhibitions?


**A/N- **So while I'm finishing up the next chapter for Family Portraits, I decided to write this for the Drunk!Giles ficathon over at Livejournal. Hope you guys enjoy!

**Prompt- **It's season 5 and it's Christmas. The Scoobies can see Buffy and Giles are meant to be together, why can't they? There's a party, there's nog (lots of it), there's mistletoe, and there's magic. Can the Scoobies get them to drop their inhibitions?

* * *

**Of Eggnog and Stalking Mistletoe**

It was Christmas, or rather Christmas Eve, in Sunnydale and Giles found himself host to a Scooby Christmas party. Not that he minded, it was the constant feeling that each of his young friends were watching him that made him uncomfortable. He wasn't sure what they were up to, but he was determined to find out by the end of the night.

"Great party, G-Man." Two cups of eggnog were in Xander's hands, one being handed off to the Watcher.

"Don't call me that," The glare was sent the young man's way as Giles took a drink. "Tell me, why am I hosting this?"

"Because we wanted a 'Scooby only' party, and you're the oldest Scooby so you get to throw the party." Willow answered as she appeared in front of him. "Not that you're old, or anything. You're just older than us and not in a creepy 'Why is he hanging around all those kids' kinda way but in a way that makes people think you're like a father figure to us. Which you are…but not to Buffy because you're her Watcher and…and…Look! You're outta eggnog. I'll go get you more,"

Both of the men just watched as Willow grabbed Giles' near empty cup and run off to the kitchen. Within seconds, the redheaded Wicca was back and pushing the cup back into Giles' hand.

"Plus, you have alcohol." Xander added, almost as if his best friend had never ran off.

"I'm so very glad that I can help you with your underage drinking." Giles replied, giving both a stern glare before his gaze found Buffy- who was in the middle of a conversation with Tara, while Anya sat on his couch looking bored.

Xander and Willow, having noticed Giles' attention was elsewhere, left to go their respective partners. Realizing that he was staring, the Englishman looked down at his empty cup and made his way to the kitchen. As he poured himself another glass, Giles was faintly aware that he probably shouldn't have anymore eggnog (considering Anya had made it a little bit stronger than he would have) but he figured he was allowed to have a good time every time, and now seemed like as god of time as any. With that in mind, he downed his third glass and poured another.

"Should I be worried you're drinking at your own Christmas party?" he looked over to see Buffy enter the kitchen, her own cup empty.

"A party that your friends put together and slapped my name down as host," he corrected, both smiling. "And no, you shouldn't be worried. I'm merely enjoying myself."

"You mean you aren't going to be a stuffy, responsible adult?" the blonde put on a shocked expression before filling up her cup. "You rebel, you. Anyways, how many have you had?"

"Seeing as how I'm still standing, not enough."

"Oh boy, just promise you won't go all depressed drunk guy on me again. Other than that, drink away Watcher-mine." They raised their cups before downing them, Giles pouring both of them another. "I'm glad you agreed though. To have the party here, I mean. I don't think I could deal with Dawn snooping around, or having Mom around while I'm drinking."

"Illegally, might I add." He pointed out.

"I won't tell if you don't,"

He noticed how she held her breath as he bent his head next to her ear; his eyes trained on a spot passed her shoulder as a way of fighting off the urge to just give in and swing his head around to kiss her.

"It'll be our secret," he whispered before straightening, not trusting himself to be that close to her in the state that he was quickly entering.

Just as he was finishing the rest of his eggnog, Buffy leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. When she pulled back, he gave her a curious look before she pointed up to the mistletoe that was now hanging above them. His brow furrowed as he tried to remember when mistletoe had been hung in the kitchen, or even if mistletoe had been hung in his apartment.

"That's so weird," Buffy mused as she placed her cup on the kitchen counter.

"Pardon?" he was quickly pouring himself another cup, still trying to figure out when the mistletoe had come from.

"When I was talking to Tara, she said something about how mistletoe was the only thing missing from this shindig." She explained before picking up her cup and walking back into the small living room.

"That is weird," he muttered before taking another drink.

* * *

Two hours later found the party at a complete stand still; Anya had fallen asleep on the couch with her head in Xander's lap, Xander was carrying on a conversation with Willow about a yellow crayon, Willow was sitting in the armchair with a half asleep Tara in her lap and the Watcher/Slayer team were laying side by side on the floor trying to follow Willow and Xander's conversation. Within the two hours since the party started, Giles had managed to nearly drink half of the eggnog (the Scoobies finishing the rest of it) and had shared countless kisses on the cheek with Buffy. At some point in the night he had decided that the mistletoe was stalking him.

"Hey," he turned his head towards Buffy, who was poking his chest in a way to get his attention. "I think they're drunk."

"I think we're all drunk, luv." He murmured as he pulled her closer with the arm she was laying on. "It's stalking me."

"Hmmm?"

"That bloody mistletoe," he clarified as his tried to focus on the mistletoe that hung above them. "Everywhere I go, there it is."

"Maybe it thinks you're yummy," the Slayer said as she rested her head on his chest, snuggling closer to him.

"Who wants to eat Giles?" Xander asked, butting into their conversation.

"That plant," he attempted to point to the object, but found his arm too heavy to lift. "It's bee following me all night."

The original four Scoobies were now all looking at the mistletoe, waiting to see if it might do something.

"You don't think it's a demony mistletoe, do you?" the blonde spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "Because I am too drunk to save the world tonight."

"Maybe it's waiting for you to kiss someone." Willow offered. "Someone like Buffy."

Xander's head rolled to look back at the Wicca as Giles and Buffy looked at each other.

"I gotta make out with my Watcher to kill the mistletoe demon? This party just got better,"

Before Giles could react, Buffy leaned forward and kissed him. If he hadn't been so drunk, Giles would have pulled back and explained to his Slayer that she didn't really want to be kissing her "old and very gross" Watcher. But with the amount of eggnog he had drank throughout the evening, he responded to the kiss. Within seconds, the kiss had deepened and Giles was on top of her as her hands wandered up and down his back.

"As much as we love you guys," Xander's voice reminded them that they were on the living room floor, causing Giles to roll off of Buffy and redden in embarrassment. "We really don't need to see you two boink. Right, Will?"

"Yep. So...get a room!" she agreed, her eyes drooping. "Well, a room that doesn't have us in it."

Without saying another word, the Watcher staggered to his feet and, after several tries, helped his Slayer up. The two stumbled their way up to the loft, falling on to his bed as soon as they reached it. Buffy quickly pushed Giles on to his back and straddled his thighs, picking up where they had left off.

"You aren't worried about the others hearing?" his breathing was quickly growing ragged as he sat up to help Buffy take his shirt off, his own hands working to get her top off.

"Giles, it's your place. Do what you want," she giggled as he rolled them so she was under him.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked against her neck, relishing in the way she felt and tasted.

"Whatever you want," she moaned, craving more.

Giving her a Ripperish grin, Giles went on giving her what she wanted.

* * *

He slowly opened his eyes, only to quickly close them and burrow his head at the intrusion of light. At the slight moan that reached his ears, Giles stopped trying to burrow into his pillow and carefully lifted his head up. Ignoring the pounding in his head, the Watcher forced his eyes open and saw that his pillow wasn't exactly a pillow. When his hung-over mind processed that he had been using a stomach as a pillow, the events of the previous night came back him.

"Oh dear Lord," he whispered as he eyes took in a very naked Buffy in his bed.

"I don't wanna go to school," Buffy mumbled in her sleep before rolling on to her side.

Preparing himself for the aftermath, Giles laid next to Buffy to where he was facing her. As he waited for her to wake up, his mind ran through every scenario that could happen and felt himself slip further into guilt-ridden rejection.

"Morning, handsome." Buffy greeted as she opened her eyes, giving Giles a lazy smile.

"Buffy, we need to talk." He had figured it was best to let it all out if he was going to have his heart broken anyways.

"Don't, please." The pleading in her voice caused him to pause in what he was going to say. "I know what you're going to say, but hear me out okay?"

She waited until he agreed before she continued.

"We were drunk last night, I know that. But I knew what I was saying, or what I was trying to say anyways. And I meant it when I said that getting to make out with you did make the party better," her hazel eyes were locked on the small area of wrinkled sheets between them. "So even though last night was just a one-night stand to you, can you just pretend that it meant something? Just until I leave pretend it wasn't a drunken mistake,"

Giles just stared at her as he tried to process what Buffy had just told him. He opened his mouth to tell her just how wrong she was when she continued.

"And now that I've said that, I might as well as tell you just how much of a freak I am. I'm the Slayer, not to mention the one who fell in love with a vampire- which I'm so over, by the way- and that makes me freakish enough." She rambled, flopping over on to her back as she drew the sheet to cover her exposed chest. "But then I had to go fall in love with my Watcher who's old enough to be dad…and I'm pretty sure I've ruined whatever was left of our friendship with that. I'm just gonna go make some breakfast for us. Us being us two and the others. Downstairs. And then I'll get dressed and leave,"

He sat up and watched as Buffy put on her discarded panties and slipped on Giles' shirt from the previous night, muttering an apology as she buttoned it up. It was when she started heading the stairs that Giles jumped into action, pulling on a pair of black boxers before chasing after her.

"Damn!" he muttered as he tripped on the last step and fell into Buffy, managing to keep both of them from falling on the floor. "Buffy, I can't pretend."

"Giles, please. I already feel like an idiot, don't add to it." The Slayer tried to leave, but Giles kept his grip on her forearms firm.

"Buffy, saying last night meant something wouldn't be pretending for me. In all honesty, I thought you were the one who was going to say it was a drunken mistake." He gave her a shy smile as he pushed back a stray strand of hair form her face. "Don't you know I adore you, Buffy?"

"Adore and love are completely different things, Giles." She pointed out.

"Yes, but I do adore you. In fact, I adore you so much that I don't mind being a…freak, as you said." He chuckled at her puzzled expression before he went on. "I'm a Watcher who's in love with a woman who's young enough to be my own daughter, and happens to be my Slayer. But none of that matters if I have you, Buffy."

"You love me?" the Slayer finally looked at him, her gaze focus on his green eyes as she saw the honesty of his words in them.

"I do," a soft smile appeared on his face as he pulled her closer to him.

"I love you too," she grinned as she leaned up to kiss him.

Giles had a feeling that things would have gotten out of control if it hadn't been for the cough in his living room. They broke the kiss and turned to look at the four Scoobies who were looking at them, a strange expression on each of their faces.

"Forgot we were here, huh?" Willow snickered.

"So…are you two orgasm friends now, or do we have to go to Plan B?" Anya yawned as she sat up and cuddled into Xander's side.

"Plan B?" Buffy asked, looking at her friends.

"We were going to lock you guys in the training room at the Magic Box if last night didn't work," Tara explained, too tired to remember to be nervous about admitting such an idea. "Then me and Willow were going to do a spell that would open the doors when you two finally admitted you loved each other."

"But now we don't since it looked like last night worked." The redheaded Wicca added, a grin breaking out on her face.

"And it sure sounded like Plan A worked last night," Xander wiggled his eyebrows, causing the Watcher to look at the floor in embarrassment as a blush crept up on him.

"And what, pray tell, was Plan A?" Giles gave them all a stern look.

"Well, a few weeks ago we were discussing on how annoying it was that you two clearly had feelings for each other and weren't acting on those feelings." Xander began. "So we decided to throw a Christmas party at your place, which we did."

"And then planned on getting you both drunk enough to let your guard down around each other," Anya casually said.

"Then we," Willow motioned to her and Tara. "Enchanted a piece of mistletoe to show up every time you guys were around each other."

"And it wouldn't go away until you two kissed each other." Tara further explained, her and Willow looking away from the glare Giles sent them.

"And that kiss would lead to you giving each other orgasms, which would lead to you confessing your feelings for each other." Anya finished, giving them both a look. "So again I ask, are you two orgasm friends or do we have to go with Plan B?"

"First, yes we are together." Buffy answered, arms crossed over her chest. "And second, what if you were wrong? What if we didn't have feelings for each other and our friendship was ruined? And don't even get me started on the whole Riley thing."

"We completely forgot about Riley," Xander told the others, oblivious to the deflated look on the Watcher's face at the mention of Riley.

"Lucky for you, we've been over for a few days now."

"You broke up with Riley?" Willow asked, going into best friend mode. "Why?"

"He said he didn't trust Giles around me," Buffy answered as she leaned into Giles' side. "He also went on to say he didn't trust me around Giles with alcohol."

"He was right not to trust you two," Anya pointed out. "I mean, look what happened!"

"Yes, thank you Anya." Giles rolled his eyes, his arm going around Buffy's waist. "But back to the topic at hand, what if you had been wrong?"

"Then you guys just had a really fun night?" Xander meekly replied, slumping further into the couch cushion.

"We were just tired of watching you make eyes at each other when you thought no one was looking," Willow jumped in to defend their actions. "It's been obvious to us that you guys are meant for each other, and the hints we had dropped to each of you weren't working so we took matters into our own hands."

"By potentially screwing up our friendship?" Buffy shot back.

"By tricking us into a confession?" Giles added.

"It wasn't exactly tricking…right, shutting up now." Xander stopped his own defense at the look the Watcher and Slayer gave him.

"You're seriously mad at us?" Anya pushed to her feet, closing her eyes against the wave of dizziness that washed over her. "We did you a favor and you're complaining about it? How you got together isn't important, the fact that you are together is. And on top of that, it's Christmas today. So take the fact that we got you two admit your feelings as a Christmas presents and be glad that you'll both be spending Christmas dinner with each other as a couple instead of just friends."

Silence fell over the apartment's occupants was everyone stared at Anya, the newly formed couple shocked at her words.

"You're right," Buffy sighed. "Thanks you guys. As a gift from me and Giles, you get to explain to my mom and Dawn how we got together tonight at dinner. Merry Christmas,"

"And you can also take care of breakfast for all of us," Giles smirked as he went to follow Buffy up the stairs. "Happy Christmas."

"Why am I suddenly feeling like Operation Stalking Mistletoe was a bad idea?" Xander asked as him and Willow made their way to the kitchen to start on breakfast.

"I don't know," Willow began, pulling six glasses out of the cupboard. "It was much better than doing a spell to make them have sex. The consequences from that one could have been much worse,"

A moan drifted down from the loft, causing the four of them to horrified expressions before making a mad dash for the front door.

"Be sure to be on time for dinner!" Anya yelled before closing the door behind her.


End file.
